Chief Rabbinate Election Deadlocked in Israel, Further Delays Sought

November 4, 1960

JERUSALEM (Nov. 3)

New inter-religious maneuverings in Israel today left unresolved the deadlock which has blocked the election of new Chief Rabbis and left Israel without a Chief Rabbinate and Supreme Rabbinate Council for more than two weeks.

A delegation of the National Religious Party called on Rabbi Judah Leib Maimon, the chairman of the Nominations Board, to ask for continued delay in the election and an additional extension of the tenure of the rabbinate council which expired October 21. Rabbi Maimon refused to agree to any continued postponement.

In another development, many of Israel’s daily newspapers published today a large advertisement containing an appeal signed by 160 rabbis calling for continued postponement of the elections. The notices referred obliquely to the political controversy which has enveloped the elections for more than a year, and urged continued postponement “until such time as they can be carried out in an honorable manner and with the participation of all Israeli rabbis.”